community mobilization, grassroots outreach, healthy food equality and access, and public health
Cases of malnutrition and diabetes are increasing in low income inner-city neighborhoods. Planners and concerned community members are seeking different ways to bring healthy foods to local populations. I am interested in looking at the different low-income communities in City Heights for my case study. This population will be fundamental to my study, because it represents an area of the most ethnically diverse communities in San Diego County. By tracing the relationship between food systems/access and demographics, I would be able to pinpoint the food problems of City Heights’ low-income residents and gain insight on the impacts of food initiatives and policies. The research findings would be insightful for San Diego planners and community organizers alike- they could benefit from gaining more insight on food issues, policies on food incentives, and potential solutions to problems of access.
Elizabeth A. Baker, Mario Schootman, Ellen Barnidge, Cheryl Kelly. “The Role of Race and Poverty in Access to Foods That Enable Individuals to Adhere to Dietary Guidelines.” Preventing Chronic Disease,no. 3 (2006), http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2006/jul/05_0217.htm.
LaVonna Blair Lewis, David C. Sloane, and others. . “African Americans’ Access to Healthy Food Options in South Los Angeles Resturants.” 95, no. 4 (April 2005): 668- 73.
Peterman, William. Neighborhood Planning and Community-Based Development. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage Publications, 2000.
Seyfang, gill. The New Economics of Sustainable Consumption. Edited by David Elliott. University of East Anglia, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Simon, William H. The Community Economic Development Movement. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2001.
White, M. “Food Access and Obesity.” In Obesity Revies, 99-107: Queen’s Printer and Controller of HMSO, 2007.
Recent studies on community health suggest that many residents who live in ethnic neighborhoods of the inner city have malnutrition due to poor access to adequate varieties of healthy food. In response to this issue, the government partnered with community related agencies in different U.S. cities have led efforts to provide more access to healthy foods to inner-city residents. There are now abundant research literatures regarding the results of food awareness by means of government aid. However, the amount of research done on food education and allocation from a bottom-up approach remains to be insufficient. This proposal outlines a research strategy to examine the grassroots approach of local groups to provide local ethnic groceries stores with healthy food access and awareness of healthy food choices. This research will contribute to the literature on community health, and will be shared with community-oriented organizations that are concerned with food access- in the hope that the findings will help facilitate on-going and future outreach strategies on inner-city food access and urban health issues.
This research is a case study of healthy food consciousness and access in ethnic communities of City Heights, San Diego. It explores the grassroots methods and strategies that community stakeholders and merchants use to promote healthy diets within the ethnic communities and nutritious food options in the nearby grocery stores. My findings show that the closer the independently owned culture-specific grocery stores are to the ethnic immigrant and refugee residents, the healthier those residents are. Ethnic residents have healthy diets by virtue of the sorts of food they eat within their cultures. When they have poor access to large grocery markets or to grocery stores that cater to cultural needs, their options to healthy nutritious foods are limited. This research provides insight on how City Heights is promoting the health of the ethnic communities by outreach efforts to invest in existing cultural tools and structures.
This research is a case study of health food consciousness and access in ethnic immigrant and refugee communities (Vietnamese, Latino, Somali and African in general) of City Heights, San Diego. Through interviews, field observation, archival surveys and statistics, I have found that the barrier to obtaining fresh nutritious food on a daily basis for many of these residents is more complex than an issue of spatial access to food nodes, such as the proximity to grocery stores. Much has to do with the residents’ knowledge and perceptions about food in their physical built environment and system. Hence, my thesis explores the community’s ‘food culture’ as it relates to the information networks and food consciousness within the ethnic groups of City Heights. My findings show that, access to food is tied to residents’ awareness of their environment and their sense of community.
Refugee and immigrant families encounter health problems when they are uneducated about food in the U.S. Most of them are not equipped with the tools to face the challenges of a culture that advertises and makes affordable, unhealthy snacks and products that are high in sodium and fat. Furthermore, as ethnic parents experience the stressful nature of American life, they are more prone to health problems and are unable to watch for the diets of their children. Community oriented residents use word-of-mouth communication to express their concerns and to educate one another about how things work in their neighborhood. Therefore, grassroots mobilization, which addresses resident concerns, is the approach to solve food problems and to create better food access for these low-income ethnic families.
I will conduct interviews with grocery store owners, local residents, community organizers and experts in this field of study. To examine correlations within spatial access of food nodes, population distribution, I would gather census data, maps, surveys and other data from community organizations and planning agencies such as Mid-City CAN and the International Rescue Committee.
City Heights:
Urban Farms; grocery stores: corner stores, healthy food stores (if any) and supermarkets, farmer’s market.
Ethnically identified neighborhoods in relation to the flow of food consumption/distribution.
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